Apparatus for extinguishing fires in railway-cars



(No Model.) 4 v V B. MILLHAUSER.

APPARATUS FOR EXTINGUISHING FIRES IN RAILWAY (JARS. No. 376. 49. Patented Jan. 24, 1888.

v V/Almll Lb wow N. FETERS, FhowlJlMgnphen Wnhingkoru 0.0.

UNITED STATEs PA TENT I Erica.

BENEDICT MILLHAUSER, or SGRANTON, PENNSYLVANIA.

SPECIFICATION forming part. of Letters Patent N Application filed March 25, 1857. Serial No a. 376,749, dated January 24, less.

.asaafis. (No model.)

T at whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, BENEDIOTIVIILLHAUSER, a citizen of the United States, residing at Scranton, in the county of Lackawauna and new and useful Improvement-s in Apparatus for Extinguishing Fires in Railway-Caraof which the following is a ful], clear, and exact description. [0 My invention relates to improvements in apparatus for heating cars;'and its object is to provide means for promptly and effectually extinguishing the' fire in a car-heating stove in case the car should be accidentally derailed and 'upset. n

' To this end my inventionconsists in one or more reservoirs of Water suitably located near the stove, and so arranged that when the floor of the car is inclined beyond a certain prede- -2o termined angle from its normal position one The novel featuresof my invention will be brought out in the following description, and

more particularly pointed out in the claims.

In the accompanying drawings, forming part of this specification, Figure 1 is a perspective view of oneof my reservoirs, certain parts being broken away. Fig. 2is a rear elevation of the same. Fig. 3 is a cross-section 0 of a car; showing the relative positions of the reservoirs and the stove. Fig. 4 is a similar view showingthe ear overturned and one of the reservoirs thrown against the stove; Fig. 5 shows a detail of construction.

5 Similar letters refer to corresponding parts in all the views.

Upon the floor of the car A stands the stove- B, which may be of any desired construction, but is preferably provided with one or more ribs, 1), as shown. At one or both sides of the stove are located the reservoirs 0, one of them State of'Pennsylvania, have invented certain,

being -detachably secured to the side of the 7 car, and the other similarly secured to strong stanchions D, firmly fixed in the floor of the car near the aisle, as shown in Fig. 3, which is a view looking toward the end of the car. These reservoirs O are preferably made of cast-iron in the shape of shallow rectangular boxes, having a neck, 0, and a cap, a, at the top. They may be slightly wedge-shaped, as

shown, in order to render them top-heavy. Each reservoiris provided with two gudgeons, E, at or near its lower rear corners, which turn easily in strong eyebolts F, secured'in thesides of the carandin the stanchions D. A detach: able fastening devicesuch as a spring-hook,, G, engaging with a cross-bar, H-retains the reservoir in an upright position.

In the front of each reservoir is a series of holes, I, preferably arranged in sets, as shown.

A- sheet of thin non-combustible frangible mav terial, Ksuch as copper, brass, iron, glass,

or the like-is placed over these holes and attached to the reservoir by a water-tight joint. This is preferably done by forming a shallow recess in the reservoir to receive the sheet of frangible material,which may then be secured by solder, k, or otherwise, as clearly illustrated 1 in Fig. 5. In order to insure the breaking of' this frangible material, a gridiron, L, which is preferably made of cast-iron or some other: brittle-material, is attached to the front of each reservoir. It may consist of a longitudinal bar, Z, and several cross-bars, Z 1'. It is held slightly away from the face of the reser- 8 voir by lugs Z on the ends of the bars. The

bars are armed with sharp spurs L, located overthe holesIin the reservoir. In the drawings'only one spur is shown for each set of holes; but it is obvious that a separate spur 9o may be provided for each hole, if desired. 7

On each end ofthe -reservoir C is pivoted a" wide iron wing,M, the back of which is heavy, so that it normally tends to fall back and rest against the'gudgeon E. I 5

Theoperation of my apparatus is illustrated r in Fig. 4. When the car upsets, the wings M drop down,-partially or wholly inclosing the space between the two reservoirs and confining the coals that may escape from the stove. too The weight of the reservoir detaches it from the fastenings G, and the heavy box of water be thrown against the other reservoir, it will break the gridiron and cause the water to escape from that reservoir to aid in putting out the flames. The ribs on the stove assist in breaking the gridirons L. If the shock is excessively severe, the reservoir itself may be broken, thereby emptying the water all the more suddenly; The fire is thus checked and extinguished in its incipiency, before it has time to spread.

Having thus described rny-invention, what I claim,'and desire to secure by Letters Patent, 1s-

1. The combination, with a car -heating stove, of one or more reservoirs of water dotachably secured to the car and provided with noncombustible frangible portions, whereby when the car is overturned the reservoir will be thrown against the stove and the frangible portion thereof broken to release the water, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

2. The combination, with a car heating stove, of a reservoir of water having its lower end pivoted to the car and its upper end held by detachable fastenings, the reservoir being provided with a non-combustible frangible portion or portions, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

3. The combination, with a car-heating stove, of a reservoir, 0, having holes I, frangible material K, and a gridiron, L, provided with spurs L, substantially as and for the pur-' pose set forth.

4. The combination, with stove B, of reservoir 0, provided with gudgeons E, wings M, holes I. frangible material K, gridiron L, and spurs L, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

5. The combination, with car A, provided with stove B, stancliions D, eyebolts F, and detachable fastenings G, of reservoirs O, having gudgeons E, wings M, holes I, frangible material K, and gridirons L, consisting of the bars Z Z, provided with lugs Z and spurs L, substantially as and for the purpose set forth. 5o

BENEDICT MILLHAUSER. Witnesses:

M. F. SANDO, A. P. BEDFORD. 

